Any form of tax is usually objectionable because people either have not dug deep enough to understand the reasons for it or they don’t trust the government to spend it wisely.

It’s obvious that recently some in the community think our money has been spent frivolously. But staying angry about previous spending will not solve our revenue problems. Perhaps a solution to the trust concern is to create a citizen committee to monitor the tax spending and hold the town council accountable to their promises.

Town officials have promised that a $7M primary property tax will be spent as follows:

*$4M will be used to fix our rapidly deteriorating streets.

*$1.5M will be put into a police and fire reserve account to pay for cost escalations.

*$1M will be placed in an existing facility replacement account.

*$0.5M will be used to replace the existing environmental fee that is not very fair because it’s assessed equally to all parcels, regardless of value.

And if we don’t pass the tax?

It’s no secret that existing contracts in place for public safety services are financially beneficial to the entire community, but each contract includes cost escalation percentages and, in five years, it’s very likely the costs for these services will be $1.8M higher than they are today. Without additional revenues, like a property tax, what services are you willing to forego to pay for our needed police, fire and emergency medical protection?

The total cost outlay today for all parks and recreation programs are $1.7M. Are you willing to do away with all recreation programs and close all parks?

Something has got to change; either we approve the primary property tax or services must be cut. Voters hold the power. Don’t be angry, be the solution.